Picnic
by Ytak
Summary: [Complete] Post episode 26: One afternoon, the members of Enjaku Detective Agency decide to take a normal picnic. But are things ever normal when Mayura is involved?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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Carefully written handwriting that did not reflect the chaotic nature of the writer scrawled out the inner turmoil of the young woman as she penned her thoughts. Attention was paid to figuring out and writing down the best words to describe what she felt. Still, her feelings, thoughts, and emotions, jumped around. The journal reflected her inner turmoil. 

_Loki-kun came back to me yesterday._

_I know that today I acted like nothing happened but the truth is that I'm afraid to ask. Afraid to act as if anything has happened. What if Loki-kun would answer my questions but have to leave because he told someone. I have this terrible feeling that if he tells, he will have to leave._

_I'm probably being silly but…but…I don't want to lose him. I can't explain the emptiness I felt when it looked as if he wouldn't come back. _

_Will I ever gain the courage to ask him about what happened those couple of days? Does he know who the light pink haired girl with the glasses was? And how does he know someone who claims to be a god?_

_Maybe these are some mysteries I shouldn't try finding the answers to._

_But I still badly want to know._

_I want to know!_

The journal was closed and slid under some old papers in a desk drawer. The young woman walked over to her western style bed and climbed into it. She closed her eyes but found that sleep did not come. Hours later, she finally drifted off into the comforting arms of sleep.

"Come oooooooooooooon, Loki-kun," Mayura whined, "summer vacation just started. It's the perfect time to go!"

Loki looked over the top of his book at the pink haired girl. He felt his resolve begin to cave at the puppy-dog eyes she was making at him. Quickly, he looked back down at his book. Seeing a black object out of the corner of his eye, he looked down.

On the floor, truly making puppy-dog eyes up at him, was Fenrir. Loki looked back over at Mayura. Over Mayura's shoulder, he could not believe that Yamino was wearing an identical expression as the other two. The pleading in their eyes collapsed the rest of his resolve.

'Damn,' Loki thought. With a sigh, he closed his book and put it on the desk. He stood out of his chair and said, "Fine, we can go on a picnic. Go help Yamino-kun make the lunch. I'll find a basket or something to carry it in."

"That's okay, Loki-sama," said Yamino. His eyes nearly sparkled as he held up an oddly shaped object. "I bought this expandable picnic basket through mail-order. When I ordered, you could get four collapsible chairs, a $40 dollar value, for only $15 dollars more!"

Loki raised an eyebrow at his son's buying habits. 'How many things does he buy that we never use?' he thought, asking himself. 'I believe I am going to have to start checking every order he makes. It is a wonder the house hasn't overflowed with all the stuff he's bought since we got here.'

Shaking his head, he went to see if his son had 'acquired' a picnic table or blanket. 'A table would be better…at least, if he wants to use those chairs.'

Around 11:45, the residents of the detective agency gathered around the gate. Loki placed up a sign, saying they were out and followed Mayura and Yamino, who were carrying all the food and a blanket.

Mayura carried the basket, swinging it back and forth recklessly, as she sung a nonsense tune to herself. Loki gave her a look, 'Is she trying to kill someone with it and make it look like an accident?'

When they reached the park, Mayura lead them to a nicely shaded spot quite a ways away from the other people in the park. "I found this place yesterday. Isn't it great," she said. "I heard that at 12:17 in the afternoon a leprechaun comes out." She put her swirly glasses on and added, "If you can look into his eyes without blinking, you can get gold out of him! I wonder why? Fushugi mystery!"

Loki rolled his eyes at Mayura's babbling. "That's nice. But do you think you could help set up the food."

"That's alright, Loki-sama," Yamino said, "I don't need any help. Why don't you take oni-, ah, Fenrir on a walk around the park? I'll call you back when everything is set up."

Loki questioned, "If that's fine with -"

"What a good idea, Yamino-kun!" Mayura interrupted. "We can look around to see where the leprechaun might come from." Without waiting for a response, Mayura ran off into the lightly wooded area.

Yamino looked at Loki, who simply rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm for things she could not see or comprehend.  
"Where should we go, daddy?" asked Fenrir.

"Hmmm, why don't we let Ecchan decided today?" said Loki, who then looked at the little spirit.

"I think we should go to that little pond, Loki-tama," Ecchan said in its cute little voice.

"Everything should be set up by the time you have walked around it," Yamino told his shrunken father.

Meanwhile, Mayura was tromping on through the tree with little regard to remaining silent so as not to disturb the wildlife. "Um, um, where would a leprechaun emerge from? Where? Where? Where?" she asked herself aloud.

"AH! Maybe there!" she said excitedly, seeing a hole at the base of the roots of very large and old tree. She knelt on the ground and looked in using a little flashlight she had brought actually anticipating the possible need for light on her search.

She huffed with disappointment when all she saw was a hole that ended a foot in. "Well, I guess I'll just have to look harder if I want to find where that leprechaun will come from," she said, thrusting a fist in the air with determination.

Turning around she came face to face with something that was most decidedly not a leprechaun. The creatures hair looked like it was made of seaweed and it wore a misshapen coat that had a great number of holes.

In an excited voice, it said, "Finally, I've found the last thing I need!" Before Mayura could say a word about what was standing in front of her, the creature shot out _something_ from one of the holes right at Mayura.

By the pond, Loki watched in amusement as his puppy-dog like son chase a squirrel up a tree. Through the woods, he heard a soul-wrenching scream and a flash of power unlike anything he felt before.

Reacting instinctively, he ran in the direction of the scream and power outburst. He reached a small clearing and stopped. On the ground was a body. Iridescent blood pooled around it. After moving closer to get a look, he froze when he recognized the person.

Reaching out in shock, Loki said, "Ma…Mayura?"

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Next chapter should be up in no more than 2 weeks. If it isn't, e-mail me. 

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Leave a review! (aka: Constructive criticism)

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Edit 5-20-05: I have a sketch up on my deviantART account. Go to my profile for the link. 


	2. Chapter 2

I'm so overwhelmed by the number of reviews for the first chapter. Thank you! I'm glad you all like it so far. I hope I can keep you from predicting what's going to happen.

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Chapter 2

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Loki stared for a moment longer at the prone body of Mayura before he shifted forms to his kakusei body. Kneeling down and without any regard for the blood that surrounded Mayura, he picked her up and carried her off to where the picnic blanket was and where everyone was waiting for him. 

Yamino's eyes grew large when he saw that Loki was carrying Mayura. Concerned, he asked Loki, as he moved stuff off the blanket to make room for Mayura, "What happened, Loki-sama? What happened to Mayura-san?"

"Honestly, I don't know what happened. I felt a burst of power as I heard her scream," Loki replied as he laid her body on the blanket. "The power was unlike anything I felt before."

There was a long moment of silence while Loki arranged Mayura comfortably on the picnic blanket that was now clear of lunch. There was no apparent physical wound to account for the blood staining the front of her sundress.

"I found her lying in a pool of blood." He frowned as he got a closer look at the blood. He had attributed the slight iridescence of the blood to the light was filtering through the tress of where he found her but now that he could really look, he noticed that the iridescence was not due to the light but the blood itself. "This isn't regular blood. It's spiritual blood!" Loki exclaimed.

Yamino's eyes widened and Fenrir let out an anxious whine at Loki's observation. "Spiritual blood? As in, something happened to her spirit, Loki-sama?" asked Yamino worriedly.

Loki looked at Mayura with an inner eye to examine her spirit. Loki inhaled in shock. "Her soul, her spirit is gone! It's missing!" he said. Loki looked at his sons and Ecchan, "There is spiritual blood not because her spirit was attacked. It's more than that. It's because her soul has been ripped from her body!"

He looked at Mayura as he thought, 'What could have done this? I haven't ever heard of anything or anyone in recent times that could or would do this to someone. Why would Mayura be a target?'

"Daddy? Who did this to the mystery-girl?" asked Fenrir.

"I don't know, Fenrir," he looked at his puppy son, "Do you smell anything unusual?"

Fenrir sniffed Mayura's body, circling her to see if anything turned up. He shook his head, "All I get is an overwhelming stench of the blood. It's so strong, that it drowns out any smells that might be one her and in the area." He sneezed, "I didn't know that it smelled so strong."

Yamino leaned in slightly for a closer look. "If her soul has been ripped from the body, Loki-sama, why is her body still alive?"

"That's just it, Yamino-kun," Loki pulled an extra blanket out of the picnic basket and laid it over Mayura. "She's dying. And if her spirit isn't returned within a day, she will really die. A person can live without a soul for a little while."

The silent Ecchan spoke, "That's terrible, Loki-tama. What are we going to do?"

- - - -

_Uh…what happened?_ Pushing herself up, Mayura looked around at her surroundings. _Where am I?_

A laugh caused her to whip around. "Where? You are in my home, my dear," answered the creature that she had met before.

_Who are you? _The she looked down at herself and gasped. _What did you do to me!_ she shrieked.

The creature looked up from the drawing he had been working on, "Hm? Oh, just took your soul from you body." He, she decided that it was a he, looked at her excitedly, "Did you know that souls with no spiritual power are the best for certain types of rituals?" He gazed off into space with a dreamy expression. "It's so hard to find souls like yours. Especially as old as you are."

_What do you mean by no spiritual power? What are you going to do with me? _Mayura asked but received no answer. Mayura asked more questions but could not get any response out of the creature. She was forced to watch as he dug through cluttered cabinets looking for supplies.

- - - -

"What you are going to do is stay here," Loki told his sons and Ecchan. "I'm going to find Mayura's soul. There is no time to waste." He looked at Mayura's body and the new pool of spiritual blood that was slowly forming. 'It might be even less than that because of the amount of spiritual blood that has been lost already, much less the fact that she is still losing blood.'

He turned to leave but paused as a thought came to him. "Yamino, take Mayura back to the Agency. I need you to try to stop the bleeding. If it doesn't let up, her body might die before we can get her soul back."

"Yes, Loki-sama," Yamino said. Carefully, he picked up the blanket wrapped Mayura as his father stayed a moment longer to cast a spell of illusion so it would not look like Yamino was carrying anyone.

Turning from the departing group of people, Loki was stopped by the voice of Fenrir. "Daddy? Can I come help?" He wagged his tail hopefully, "I bet I could smell out the source of the person who hurt Mystery-girl."

Loki smiled at his offspring, "That's a good idea. We will start where I found her."

Fenrir wagged his tail happily, "Good, she may be irritating but she always brings the best sweets and sneaks food to me under the table."

"So that's why you aren't hungry at suppertime. I guess you don't need any snacks then," Loki said, teasing Fenrir.

"Daddy! That's so mean!" Fenrir said, rising to the bait.

Loki smiled at Fenrir, "Don't worry about it. I'll just tell Mayura when we get her back to stop sneaking you food." 'Though, that wouldn't stop her.' He thought grimly, 'First, we need to get her back.'

Loki and Fenrir set off to locate theperson whohad stolen Mayura's soul.

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Reviews, feedback and constructive criticism welcome as always. 

On a different note, if anyone is going to be at A-kon this weekend, look out for me. I'll be dressed as Kaitou Kid from Detective Conan (imagine a suit, cape and top hat that is all white) on Saturday, at least.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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Loki followed close behind Fenrir, as Fenrir sniffed around the area that Mayura was found. Fenrir sneezed once and looked up, "Got the scent, daddy. And boy does it smell bad. It's so strong I can smell it over the blood. The guy sure needs a bath."

Walking over to the spot, Loki could also smell the stench because it was so strong. He stiffened when he also felt the residual aura of the area. He said quietly, "Everything about this feels bad." Loki looked off in the direction the aura disappeared in, "After you, Fenrir. The aura is too weak for me to follow after we leave the area. Who or whatever did this moved fast."

"However, I _will_ know when we get to the place where it lives. The aura around that place will be so strong that few won't feel it." Loki grinned, his smile promising retribution, since, even though Mayura could be irritating, she was important to him.

Fenrir walked quickly, his nose close to the ground. The small forest in the park seemed to become darker as they traveled inward to places that people rarely go. Father and son traveled for about fifteen minutes weaving in and out of trees until they were turned around, unable to see the sun through the dense overhead foliage.

Eventually, they came to a small groove of trees that were clustered together so tightly that no person could see between the trunks. It was here that Fenrir finally spoke again. "The smell passes right through the trees, Daddy. I think the trees screen the scent from the outside world." He looked up at his father and asked, "How do we get through?"

Loki smiled as he summoned his staff and stepped forward, "Forcefully if we have to."

- - - -

Meanwhile, Mayura watched the creature pull out something from one of the back cupboards with a happy exclamation. "Finally! The last thing I need." He abruptly switched to muttered reparations, "I swore I had put this in _that_ cupboard. How did it get back there?" He looked around the room suspiciously, his eyes lighting on Mayura. "_You_ moved it, didn't you?" he said standing in front of Mayura, moving so fast she swore that she had blinked.

_I have no idea what you're talking about!_ she snapped. _I only just got here you-you creep!_

The creature huffed in response and moved away from the globe that Mayura was held in. His gate changed from a swaying motion to one that was smooth and controlled. He seemingly picked random items from the floor where he scattered them and began to collect them on the lone, scarred table in the center of the room.

Mayura pulled her metaphysical legs up to her chest as she watched the creature arrange its supplies on the table. He looked around for a moment, as if trying to remember something before he came to the countertop that the globe sat on.

The abrupt movement startled Mayura out of her reserve. Her curiosity finally began to overwhelm her fear-though her fear was still there, as well as a growing sleepiness that she could not shake off. She looked at the items on the table, trying to figure out what they were all for.

Taking her chances, she asked, in a reasonable voice, _Well, if I am going to be used as some sort of ingredient, shouldn't I at least know what you are making?_

"Hmm," the creature said, looking up from the ingredients that he was mixing in a large bowl. "Oh," he waved a disfigured hand dismissively, "not a complicated thing. Just really a relatively potion-spell to help me locate other souls with power." Two more ingredients went into the bowl. "The only problem is that there are few souls without any spiritual power. Sure if enough spiritual energy is in the area, the person will see stuff but not normally," he rambled.

Continuing, he said, "Spiritually powerless, or if you will, magicless souls are very rare. Didn't used to be but classes of people intermarried mixing all the bloodlines so almost everyone has some." He paused a moment and looked at Mayura's soul, "I'd hazard to say you weren't born without any." He waved what passed for an arm around, "Not that any of that matters for this."

_'Weren't born without any?' What do you mean by that?_ she asked, not understanding his half coherent ramblings.

He really looked at Mayura for the first time, causing her to gasp when she saw what remained of what looked to once be a human face. "It's time for you now. The potion is almost complete!" he said, doing a little skip in place. "Finally I can really live well!"

He grabbed the globe Mayura was in and broke it open on the edge of the pot like cracking open an egg on the edge of a countertop. What Mayura had of consciousness was lost when the globe broke.

It was as the creature broke the globe that Loki and Fenrir choose to come out from behind the ajar door they had been waiting behind. Loki had his staff out and Fenrir had grown to a size that brought his head up to Loki's waist.

"That was an interesting bit of information about our friend there. But I'm afraid we can't let you use her like that," he said with a feral smile echoed by Fenrir.

The creature sputtered nervously as he moved away from the table, "How-how did you get in here?"

"Rather simple, you freak," growled Fenrir, "I could smell you a mile away. Daddy here is very good at getting through things, so your tress were nothing. So after we got through your tree barrier it was easy to find our way here."

In a sudden change of attitude, the creature ran to the table and wrapped his arms possessively around the pot. He screeched at father and son as he moved toward another door, "You can't have her! She's mine I tell you! MINE!"

As the creature made a mad dash for the other door, Fenrir ran into his path, blocking him. The creature was so startled at the speed that he did not react as Loki took the pot from his arms and cast a spell. That happened to trap him the mirror-prism thing.

The two left the creature in his new prison. As Loki followed his son through the destroyed tree wall, he cast the spell to shatter the prism.

Safely outside, Loki placed the pot on the grass. Fenrir, now back to his normal size, looked in the pot at Mayura's soul. "Are we just going to carry her back in the pot, daddy?"

"No," replied Loki, casting his prism spell again, only this time to transport Mayura's soul safely.

Loki plucked the prism from the air. "Fenrir, which is the most direct route back to our place?"

"This way, daddy," Fenrir replied, pointing in a direction. He walked off that way quickly with Loki close behind.

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Reviews, feedback and constructive criticism welcome as always. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

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Soon, Loki and Fenrir returned to the detective agency with Mayura's soul safely in tow.

Together, they went up to the guestroom that Yamino had put Mayura. Taking great care, Loki freed her soul from the prism and placed it back into her body.

Mayura's eyes fluttered and closed tightly as she tried to roll into a little ball from the pain she felt. She felt a kind presence over her, it felt like the time she had met the man who called himself a god. She tried to force herself to open her eyes and look closely at the person above her but could not find the strength to do so.

The presence leaned forward and said quietly, "You should rest." A wave of sleepiness washed over her. Eyes feeling like lead, she fell into a deep, healing slumber.

Yamino moved from behind the door where he was hiding to his father. "Will she be alright?" he asked, worried tones coloring his voice.

Loki looked up at his son, "She should be fine with plenty of sleep. I doubt she'll wake before the evening."

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Images and sounds and sensations passed through her mind as she felt she was suspended in air-no longer suffering from the emptiness that she had been feeling.

Memories slowly came to the surface of her mind-like snapshots of sight, sound, and even smell.

A creature that wanted to use her soul.

The wonderful voice of the man who said he was a god accompanied by what sounded like the bark of little Fenrir.

A feeling of not being able to move.

A warm hand on her head.

Finally, she heard Loki-kun's teasing, but not cruel, voice telling her to wake up.

"Wakey wakey, Mayura. If you don't wake soon, your father will come over and throw a conniption fit because you are late coming home." She could hear the teasing grin in his voice. She could hear the teasing smile in his voice. "It's already time for you to go to bed."

Mayura sat up abruptly and began to panic at the thought of how upset her father would be at her lateness. Then she looked out the window and saw that the sun was still up. Pouting, she allowed herself to fall back on the bad. Mayura made a face at Loki, "Mou, Loki-kun, it's not nice to tease some older than you are," she said as she pushed herself into an upright position.

Abruptly, she leaned over, clenching her head in pain. "Ooooooo," she said, rubbing her forehead, "I have such a headache."

Loki nodded and handed Mayura two aspirin and a glass of water, "I'm not surprised, considering you slipped and hit your head. You're lucky all you have is a headache and not a concussion."

Mayura looked at Loki in surprise, "I hit my head? How? I don't remember hitting my head…," she trailed off as some of the stuff she saw while she was asleep came to mind. She drew her eyebrows together ever so slightly in puzzlement.

Loki frowned in concern. "I supposed it is possible that the hit on your head has made you forget what happened." He shifted his position slightly and began said, "You running around in excitement, yelling about a 'fushugi mystery' and slipped on a pile of leaves."

Loki then gave Mayura a 'look,' "You really should be more careful. If Yamino-kun hadn't heard your exclamation of surprise, you might still be in the unconscious in the forest. Even worse, you might have really gotten hurt and no one would have been around to help you."

Mayura was looking down at the bedding. Loki sighed slightly and shook his head. _Nothing will deter Mayura for long. Not even the threat of being seriously hurt._ He saw that she still held the aspirin and water. "You do know that medicine works better if you take it, don't you?" he teased.

Mayura looked up at Loki and stuck out her tongue but she followed up by swallowing the aspirin. The expression on her face shifted to a thoughtful one. "Ummm…," she said.

"What?"

"Nothing," Mayura said, shaking her hands in front of her, "I just remembered some weird dreams."

Loki gave her a serious look, "I'll let you go home on one condition. If the pain gets any worse or you start seeing spots, you need to go to the hospital immediately."

Mayura thought about it a moment and nodded in agreement. Then she sat up straighter and then slumped in disappointment. "I never did get to see if the leprechaun appeared or not." She looked at Loki hopefully.

"No, Mayura, I will not go back to the park to look for the leprechaun again. And if you got back looking again, and I will know if you have, I will tell your father about your carelessness today," he threatened.

She wilted in disappointment, remembering from past experience that Loki _would_ know if she did. She asked, "How would you know?"

He gave her a secretive smile and said, "I'm a detective."

Mayura huffed at him, climbed out of bed and left the room quickly. She saw Yamino and thanked him for taking care of her (just to spite Loki who she knew had helped her).

Yamino shook his head and smiled as he watched Mayura leave the house. He turned and saw his father.

Loki wore a speculative look on his face. _She was not quite normal. I wonder how much she remembers and if she will ever tell me._

Mayura slowed from her fast walk to a very slow pace as she got further from the detective agency. She remembered snippets of the past day. Much of the day was like a dream to her. _What happened today?_ she thought. Looking at the time, she saw that she still had time to get home in time for supper if she ran.

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As before, questions, comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism are welcome.

Surprise! I have a sequel planned. It will set out to answer the unanswered questions of this story. So stay tuned. I don't know when its going to come out, so, DON'T TELL ME TO HURRY UP! (doing so makes me angry and would make me procrastinate on writing the new story)


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